Hull University Union

Hull University Union

Hull University Union (HUU) is the students' union for the University of Hull in Kingston upon Hull, England. It is run as a completely separate entity to the university itself. There is a Union Executive Committee (UEC) chaired by the President, Aidan Mersh, which consists of six full-time sabbatical officers, Scarborough Union Manager, Director of Commercial Services & Marketing, Manager of Membership Services and HR and the Chief Executive as an adviser's only to the Sabbatical Officers.

Union Council is the major scrutinizing body of Hull University Union, meeting every 3 weeks to scrutinize the decisions of the UEC.

HUU has a presence on both the Hull and Scarborough campuses. There is one sabbatical officer that is elected to manage the running of the Union in Scarborough which is the Vice President Scarborough Matthew Jason Brown.

The Structure of the UEC & The Charities Act

HUU is a registered charity and the supervisory body is the Charities Commission.

Some changes have already come into effect, for example, the trustee structure has already changed. There are now four student trustees, four external trustees and all six sabbatical officers are also trustees.

The Union Executive Committee structure changed as of 29 June 2010. There will be 6 full-time sabbatical officers. The new UEC is (* denotes trustee of Hull University Union):

2011-12 Sabbatical Team

• President - Aidan Mersh*
• Vice-President (Welfare) - Phil Pocknee*
• Vice-President (Education) - Matthew Barrow*
• Vice-President (Sport) - Ash Armitage*
• Vice-President (Community) - Tom Peel*
• Vice-President (Scarborough Campus) - Matthew Jason Brown*
• Chair Campaigns and Democracy - Kora-Lee Holmes
• Chair International Students Association - Komal Tariq
• Chair Media - Dominic Fogg
• Scarborough Welfare Officer - Madonna Masuka
• Scarborough Education Officer - Jamie Lawrence
• Scarborough Sports Officer - Chris Long
• Scarborough Community Officer - Loraine Tinsley
• Scarborough Campaigns Officer - Hannah Connor

The new Media & Volunteering position is a merger of the sabbatical duties of the HUSSO Chair and the VP (Media & Communications). The VP (Media & Communications) was the editor of Hullfire, but because the workload of the new role is greater, the editor has now become a student role. Societies were the responsibility of VP (Finance & Democracy), (now restored to the title of Union Secretary & Treasurer) but that has now become part of the remit of VP (Media & Volunteering).

Chair ISA was a position that already existed, but it was a student voluntary role. As of 07/08 it will still be a student position, but it will also be on the Union Executive Committee. It will be the same with Chair Campaigns. The Chair HUSSO became a part-time role, still with a place on the UEC.

Because of the nature of the cross campus elections for the Executive posts, it is in theory possible for any member of the Union to stand for any post, and thus in the past this was capable of creating the anomaly that the VP-S&L (Cross Campus election) could have been held by a separate person from the post of President of the Athletic Union (Internal AU election) and the VP-SCA could have been separate from Chair HUSSO. While changes to the constitution/standing orders have removed the possibility of this happening for Chair-HUSSO, it is still theoretically possible to have the posts of Vice President Scarborough held by a student who is neither a resident of the town, or undertaking a course at the campus. This happened in the elections of 2010 and 2011 when Matthew Jason Brown who graduated from Scarborough two years before, but was undertaking a course on the Hull campus was elected to the post and then reelected the subsequent year.

Over recent years (especially the last 10 years) there has been frequent changes in the roles and titles of a number of the Sabbatical officers, and an increase in their number from 5 to 8, until the recent reduction down to 6, which is still a high number in comparison to other Student Unions.

Regulations

Like any student union, there are regulations governing the way it runs. The biggest recent issue regarding these was the change of the union's constitution so it complies with the Charities Act - a bill which expected to have royal ascent either this year or the next. The new constitution came into force on 1 August 2007. Alongside the constitution, there are also Bye-Laws, Standing Orders and Policies & Procedures. The Bye-Laws and Standing Orders are also going through a period of change.

For the likes of Standing Orders and other regulations, they must first pass through the Union Executive Committee (a regular meeting of all sabbatical officers) and then be discussed and/or ratified by Union Council. In the case of the constitution, it has to also go through University Senate and finally University Council.

Entertainments

HUU provides a variety of events for all groups of people. One of the biggest events is the End of Year Ball. HUU also puts on a special event for all students who graduate in mid-July after graduation ceremonies.^{[citation needed]} HUU also holds other regular events such as AU night, Tower on Wednesdays, and Brassick student night on Saturdays.^{[citation needed]}

Asylum

HUU is one of the few student unions in the country to have its own nightclub, Asylum, and is the Union's £3.6 million purpose built centre of entertainment. It holds events and tours that are also open to the public, and opens three nights a week during semester for NUS card holders and over 18s.^{[citation needed]} When space in Asylum is exceeded, the adjoining John McCarthy Bar is used if available. Asylum was voted the best student venue in 2004. It also won the 2008 Best Bar None awards, winning 3 gold awards as well as Safest Venue.^{[citation needed]}

Bars

The union has three bars: the 'John McCarthy Bar', named after the journalist and Beirut Hostage; 'Sanctuary', which includes an outdoor decked area, the Keith Martin Terrace, and BBQ facilities; and 'Armstrong's', within Asylum, in memory of student Anne Armstrong.^{[citation needed]} The John McCarthy Bar holds a Thursday night Karaoke.

In April 2010 a group of Hull students created a facebook group in appreciation of the Keith Martin Terrace. Users of the terrace have also formed a social club.^{[citation needed]}

The Athletic Union (A.U.)

The Athletic Union is a large part of HUU, which has roughly 50 sports clubs to which students can add by creating their own. It has its own executive committee, the president of which is also a sabbatical officer in the Union as the VP Sports & Leisure, and several of the teams compete in the BUSA leagues. HUU is one of the few unions in the country to provide the sport - it is common for universities to offer it instead. There are recently created 3G football pitches, two large sports halls, six squash courts and a state of the art Sports Science facility. There is also a gym which has received heavy investment over the years and can cater for all students' needs.

Scarborough campus

Hull University also has a campus in Scarborough, which is part of Hull University Union. The Union building is on the ground floor of the Scarborough Campus.

HUUSC is run by an executive team, chaired by the VP Scarborough Campus, who is part of the HUU Union Executive Committee (UEC). This "exec", as it is known, is made up of five part time volunteer student officers who are elected in week 5 of semester 2, alongside sabbatical officers. The roles are Scarborough Education Officer, Scarborough Sports Officer, Scarborough Welfare Officer, Scarborough Community Officer and Scarborough Campaigns Officer.

Each officer is responsible for a particular area of the Students' Union in Scarborough, and work alongside their sabbatical colleagues from the Hull Campus to ensure that Scarborough Campus students have access to the same facilities, services and opportunities as their Hull based counterparts.

BassMent! Radio, Scarborough Campus's radio station, is operated by HUUSC

The student magazine, Scarborough Tide, this is run by students and edited by the Scarborough Tide Editor Steve Hansell

Volunteering in HUU

There are many areas that students of Hull University can get involved in. Each area has its own Sabbatical officer or part time UEO. The responsibilities of the officers of these areas and student opportunities are mentioned below.

Academic Representation

The current set of responsibilities that the VP Academic Representation has are mainly the recruiting and guidance of:

• Student Reps (of which there are over 300)
• The Training Team- Established in 1998/99 under the "Training Officer" (formerly the Assistant Vice President-Education and Representation).
• The Postgraduate Society
• The Mature Students Committee.

This sabbatical officer also attends a large number of university committees so that the student voice can be heard. One of those committees is University Senate (one of the top committees in the University), of which, as well the VP AR, the Union President, the University Secretary & Treasurer and 7 other elected Student Representatives attend to represent the Students to the top staff members of the University.

Recent developments in this area include activities related to PDP, IT, the National Student Survey, improving representation on the Scarborough campus, mature students and eLearning.

In the past, this position was known as "VP Education and Representation" and "VP Education & Welfare". The Welfare responsibilities eventually separated from this role to become VP Welfare Support Services and later on, VP Welfare & Equality.

Media & Volunteering

The sabbatical officer in charge of this area is responsible for:

• Jam Radio - The union-run student radio station broadcasts over the internet on www.ilovejamradio.co.uk (introduced in 2006–2007). It is a standing committee in the union and mixes mainstream shows with a large selection of specialist shows.
• Hullfire - In the past, Hullfire has been a newspaper, but 2006–2007 saw it become a magazine with a slicker look. While the change in format has been well received, the 'new-look' that was introduced in 2008 (and has carried on through the 2009-10 academic year) has been criticised by the student body, but still enjoys high readership. Until 2007–2008 the VP Media & Communications was the Editor-In-Chief, however, due to increased responsibilities of the VP M&V, the editorial role has been taken over by an elected student volunteer. The sub-editors and the Deputy Editor are also students, and always have been.

Another area of responsibility is the Environmental Committee; for example, 2006/2007 saw significant activity in recycling.

This role has also been involved in the promotion and use of fair trade products within the union.

In the past VP Media & Volunteering has been known as VP Media & Communications, VP Marketing & Communications and VP Services.

Welfare & Equality

The sabbatical officer in charge of this area is responsible for the Advice Centre, Nursery, Nightline, HUSAC (Hull University Students Against Crime), LINKS (St. John Ambulance Service), LGBT Committee, Equal Opportunities Committee, the Women's Officer, Men's Officer, Health Officer and Students with Disabilities officer.

VP Welfare also attends meetings of 'The Scheme' exec. The Scheme is a student accommodation setup in Hull to regulate landlords. However, the Union has recently noted that it will withdraw from 'The Scheme.'

Recent developments in this area include the successful Alternative Red Ribbon Ball, being part of the promotion of 'Smart Water' and recruiting people for welfare-linked voluntary positions which had been vacant for some time.

This set of responsibilities used to be part of the role 'VP Education & Welfare' - a position seen in many student unions. However, due to the size of the remit, it split into two sabbatical positions several years ago (the other being VP Education & Representation, which eventually became VP Academic Representation, see above).

HUSSO/SCA

Hull University Social Services Organisation/Student Community Action, often shortened to HUSSO/SCA, or even HUSSO, is currently a registered charity in its own right (with HUU being an exempt charity). However, HUSSO is in the process of de-registering as a charity and becoming a part of the HUU charity. It allows students to participate in a variety of activities which benefit the wider community (kids, older people, people with disabilities). Currently, there are over 300 volunteers involved in HUSSO/SCA. The Chair of HUSSO is a part time member of the Union Executive Committee.

Community Volunteering

CV is a referral service for students wishing to volunteer for external community projects (unlike HUSSO where the projects are student-led). There is a wide range of projects available and CV will offer support and advice to all volunteers using its services throughout their volunteering. CV is based in the Union on both Hull and Scarborough campuses.

Campaigns

As part of the reforms of the Union Constitution, the Union now has a dedicated Chair of Campaigns, who is also a part time member of the UEC. The Chair Campaigns must run at least 3 campaigns a semester as per the Standing Orders.

See also

• Jam 1575
• National Union of Students of the United Kingdom

External links

• Hull University Union website
• Hull University Union Scarborough Campus website

Video clips

• Hull University Union YouTube channel